Sahar Francis has been the General Director of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association since 2006. Addameer provides legal and advocacy support to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. An attorney by training, Sahar has over sixteen years of human rights experience, including human rights counseling and representation. Ms. Francis served on the Board of Defence for Children International – Palestine Section for four years and currently sits on the Board of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
Brad Parker is the Senior Adviser for Policy and Advocacy at Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP). He specializes in issues of juvenile justice and grave violations against children during armed conflict, and leads DCIP’s legal advocacy efforts on Palestinian children’s rights, as well as the No Way to Treat a Child campaign. Before joining DCIP, Brad worked as a legal advocacy coordinator and staff attorney at MADRE, a New York-based international women’s rights nonprofit organization.
Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder of the prominent Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and of Nonviolence International. He is an international human rights attorney practicing in the US, Palestine and Israel. Jonathan serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and as President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He headed the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. After graduating with his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from Virginia Law School, and practicing a couple of years in New York, Jonathan returned home to Palestine and became a resident of East Jerusalem. Currently, he serves as Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA).
M. Theresa Basile (Moderator) is the Communications Director and a co-founder of UMKR, a board member at Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), and a former Steering Committee Member at US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). She is also an MFSA officer in the California-Pacific region of the UMC and serves on the Leadership Team of the Western Methodist Justice Movement (WMJM). She is an organizer and activist on a wide range of justice causes in the United Methodist Church, interfaith circles, and beyond.
SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
Labels and Laws:
Silencing the Voices of Justice
Israel's Orwellian lawfare protects crimes against humanity, criminalizes human rights, and perverts the course of justice
In October 2021, Israel shocked the world by officially designating six outstanding, respected Palestinian organizations as "terrorists," making them vulnerable to all the legal ramifications of that label, including Israel's draconian 2016 Counter-Terrorism law.
That outrageous action was just the latest assault in a long history of lawfare against those who defend Palestinian human rights: manipulating legislation, political labels, and Israel's judicial system to violate international law with impunity and hide the reality of Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
This revealing and highly informative panel discussion looks at the history and latest developments in the legal warfare being waged against these organizations and other prominent human rights defenders.
Our panel includes three leading Palestinian human rights defenders:
We need your support.
With very limited resources, UMKR has made a major impact in the United Methodist Church.
Groundbreaking divestment and boycott actions by the UMC would never have happened without UMKR's advocacy AND the extraordinary partners and allies who have worked with us and supported our efforts.
If we are to continue advocating for Palestinian rights throughout our international denomination, we need your support.
Click here to donate online or by mail.
Please give as generously as you are able, and know that gifts of every size make a difference.
For News & Alerts
- 1 or 2 per month –
join our mailing list!
🔸 New or Recently Updated
Resources Webinar
Resources and information from the webinar
The Six Organizations
Addameer:
https://www.addameer.org
Defense for Children International - Palestine
https://www.dci-palestine.org
Al-Haq human rights center
https://www.alhaq.org
Bisan Center for Research and Development
http://www.bisan.org/
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees
http://upwc.org.ps
Union of Agricultural Work Committees
https://www.uawc-pal.org
What you need to know about Israel’s political attacks on Palestinian rights organizations
https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/what-you-need-to-know-about-israels-political-attacks-palestinian-rights
‘They targeted us for one reason: We’re succeeding in changing the paradigm’
https://www.972mag.com/palestinian-ngos-human-rights-attacks/
Israel refuses to reveal the evidence against the six Palestinian organizations it has designated as "terrorist organizations"
https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10515
FIND MORE RESOURCES on this subject on our website:
https://www.kairosresponse.org/stand_with_the_6.html
TAKE ACTION
For everyone:
PETITION to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken
https://umkr.salsalabs.org/petition-bidenadmin-standwiththe6/index.html
For those in the US:
H. Res.751 - Condemning the repressive designation by the Government of Israel of six prominent Palestinian groups as terrorist organizations
CONTACT your Representative, asking them to co-sponsor H. Res. 751
https://umkr.salsalabs.org/alert-congress-standwiththe6/index.html
for our work to continue.
United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
UMKR needs your support